Josh discusses the cancelation of the Stateville Correctional Center (Illinois) Debate team with their former coach Katrina Burlet. Earlier this year, the team was canceled by the Illinois Department of Corrections with no explanation.

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Notes From Episode 20

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A full PDF transcript of Decarceration Nation Episode 20

My Guest

Katrina Burlet former coach of the Stateville Correctional Center Debate Team

Katrina Burlet is the former coach of the Stateville Correctional Center Debate Team and the founder and director of the Justice Debate League. She graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in Political Science.

Let Stateville Debate

Josh talks to Katrina Burlet who was the coach of the Stateville Correctional Center Debate Team (until the Illinois DOC canceled the program with no explanation).

Katrina Burlet heads the Justice Debate League in Illinois.

Popular Press Stories

The first story I read was this overview of what happened with Katrina’s class.

WGN-TV did a feature on the Stateville Debate team just before the class was canceled.

Here is the referenced feature discussing juvenile lifers and the quote about numbness and parole.

Does the Illinois DOC Control Parole?

This is the evidence I found suggesting that the Illinois DOC controls parole.

Press Conference

Katrina talked about her recent press conference, this Injustice Watch article was about the aftermath of that press conference.

FOIA Requests

Katrina suggested that folks make FOIA requests to the Illinois Department of Corrections about Katrina Burlet’s class. Here is a guide to making an FOIA request in Illinois.

If you want to write letters to any of the inmates in the stories, you can look them up.

Josh and his friend Crystal at the 2018 MCCD gala
Josh and Crystal at the 2018 MCCD Gala

Decarceration Nation is a podcast about radically re-imagining America’s criminal justice system. If you enjoy the podcast we hope you will subscribe and leave a rating or review on iTunes. We will try to answer all honest questions or comments that are left on this site. We hope fans will help support Decarceration Nation by supporting us from Patreon.